What Should I Do if Pulled Over for a DUI in Illinois? Facing criminal charges in the state of Illinois? Combs Waterkotte attorneys Joshua Boardman and Andrew Russek discuss everything you need to know if you’re ever pulled over for DUI in Illinois. It is important to remain calm, polite, and cooperative with the officer. Provide your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance when requested, but remember you still have the right to remain silent beyond basic identifying information. Officers may ask you to perform field sobriety tests or submit to chemical testing, which can have legal consequences depending on the situation. A DUI stop in Illinois can quickly lead to arrest, license suspension, and serious criminal charges. Understanding what to do during a DUI stop in Illinois can help protect your rights and strengthen your defense moving forward.
Interview Transcript
Scott Michael Dunn: What should I do if I’m pulled over for a DUI in Illinois?
Joshua Boardman: First and foremost, don’t freak out. Don’t create more havoc around the scene than what’s already likely presented, especially if you haven’t been in that situation before. You want to give truthful answers as to the very basic information. But beyond that, you don’t want to be spilling your guts and explaining where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing and how much you’ve had to drink, because rest assured, anything that you say at that point in time is going to go into a law enforcement officer’s report and is going to end up being part of the case later on.
You have the right to refuse the field sobriety test. You’ve got the right to refuse the breathalyzer test. If you refuse those, it obviously precludes them from having your BAC at that point in time based on the refusal and then also the circumstantial evidence of the field sobriety test. It eliminates that. Now, understanding that you will likely get arrested and your license can be suspended for up to a year in the state of Illinois, but it does not manufacture any evidence that can be used against you. Lastly, but most importantly, after the incident, immediately contact an attorney to proceed with your rights once the report formally is received by the state’s attorney’s office and then they charge the DUI.
Dunn: What would you say is specifically the limited information? What is that? I mean, what do you recommend they actually say? Name, type, social security, you know what I mean?
Boardman: Yeah, name, any sort of identifying information, but beyond that, you get a question from law enforcement, where are you headed, or especially, where are you coming from? A lot of times if you are coming from a restaurant or a bar or a concert or something, they’re going to utilize that to form their next questions, which have you been drinking, how much have you had tonight? So once it does start progressing into those types of questions, assert your right to remain silent, assert your right to an attorney, and just remain calm, remain respectful, but remain calm. That way you don’t say anything that could potentially jeopardize the case later on.
Andrew Russek: You have a general duty to identify yourself, identify that you’re a valid driver, that your car is insured, that your car is properly registered. Beyond that, you can tell them, hey, I don’t answer questions, essentially run my name and give me a ticket if you’re gonna give me a ticket. You don’t have to tell them where you’re coming from, where you’re going, what you were up to that night, what your plans are for the rest of the night. All that is them attempting to create fodder to say, well, he was at a bar, what does that mean? Well, it could mean nothing, but they could use it to mean something. So why give it to them?
Dunn: I mean, wouldn’t you say it’s their goal, when they pull you over, to find a way to arrest you?
Russek: Even if it’s not their goal, they’re hammers. You don’t want to give them the nail to try and make a DUI out of nothing. You have to prove that you’re a valid driver and that all that’s up to code and that’s it.
Dunn: Now, that’s drinking based, right? But can you get a DUI for marijuana in Illinois?
Boardman: You sure can. The way the statute is written, under the influence element, that can be alcohol, that can be prescription drugs, that can be marijuana. It goes to the level of impairment, which is a thing that many people don’t think of. You think of a DUI, you think of drinking and driving, but you can be impaired within any of those categories of substances that I just mentioned.
Russek: What that means is you can, and we’ve seen cases where people are given DUIs for medication that they are prescribed from a doctor, taking dosages that they’re prescribed by the doctor, and then potentially driving too soon after, before the effects have worn off, or you take an Ambien, but also have a glass of alcohol. Either of those separately are perfectly fine, but now all of a sudden you’re impaired, or at least a cop’s gonna claim you’re impaired, and you find yourself with the DUI.
Dunn: Is this like the only way they would know that, is if you gave them that information?
Russek: There are other ways that they can determine it, but…
Dunn: They do blood alcohol content, right?
Russek: The two strongest things are gonna be blood alcohol content and the own statements, your own statements you may give to nail you. You know, the amount of times we’ve seen them say, well do you think maybe you shouldn’t have had that many drinks? You say, maybe I shouldn’t have, and then all of a sudden you’ve just essentially admitted to at least feeling a little intoxicated, and they can run with that for a mile.
Boardman: And it’s not always crystal clear what their intent is. I’ve had, in reviewing body cam footage, I’ve had officers, are you a little sleepy? You cross the line there, and then sure enough a defendant’s gonna go, well you know, I took a sleeping pill, but I had to run to the grocery store, and there you go.
Dunn: That’s scary. In any of those situations it’s scary, but I guess, what’s the most important thing to focus on when you get pulled over for a DUI, or driving in any impaired, any level of impairment?
Boardman: I think what we’ve stated previously, which would be, understand what your rights are, which is the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, not divulge any information beyond the obligations that you have to identify yourself, your status as a driver, details like that. Don’t attempt to evade or be untruthful. Just rely on the protections that are provided to you in that moment. You’ll likely get a ticket, you can even tell them, I understand that I may get a ticket out of this, but I’m still not going to necessarily answer those questions, and then contact an attorney to receive the discovery in the police report, and start to work up your case after that incident.
Dunn: Yeah, it sounds like it’s important to understand confidently that you have those rights. And then the officer that’s probing, that’s his sole goal, right? He’s probing for an opportunity, he keeps hunting and hunting and hunting.
Boardman: It may feel counterintuitive, because a lot of folks will want to cooperate with law enforcement, as you know, whether that’s out of a traditional view of law enforcement, or whether they are trying to mitigate whatever damage they think could be occurring, or whether they are trying to assert their innocence, let an attorney do that.
